DANANG – My Tay Commune of Nui Thanh District in Quang Nam Province, home to dozens of langurs in the international Red Book, is seeking to develop community-based tourism combined with the sustainable development of biological diversification and improvement of local residents’ livelihoods.
According to the local authority and experts at a conference on sharing and orienting sustainable community-based tourism development in Tam My Tay Commune a few days ago, the grey-shanked douc langur with the scientific name Pygathrix cinerea is a rare and precious primate of Vietnam.
Tam My Tay Commune, with over 30 ha of natural forest, is currently home to 69 langurs.
A project entitled “Sustainable development of community-based tourism in Tam My Tay Commune”, funded by the EU National Institutes for Culture – EUNIC and Vietnam – Goethe- Institut through GreenViet, was recently launched to support the locality to develop community-based tourism in combination with the protection of wildlife animals and langur individuals.
If langur and wildlife animal sightseeing tours combined with community-based tourism are executed effectively, this model will help the local residents improve their livelihoods and develop sustainable community-based tourism.
The community-based educational tourism model will be an appropriate next step for the locality in terms of tourism, said a representative of a local tourist company.
According to Le Quoc Viet, a Quang Nam Tourism Association representative, encouraging local and international students to participate in this educational tourism model will support Quang Nam’s tourism ecosystem, adding to the demand for educational tourism and experience travel in the province.
However, exploiting tourism and protecting langurs simultaneously is not simple.
The success of sustainable community-based tourism needs a policy, workforce, professional development and detailed management plans, apart from frequent and sustainable working with the community.
Community-based tour participants in one week need to be estimated to avoid spontaneous tourism. And more importantly, promoting and conveying a sustainable message to tourist companies and tour agents is important in developing this tourism model, advised the foreign expert.
The project, “Sustainable development of community-based tourism in Tam My Tay Commune”, approved by Quang Nam Province’s Department of Planning and Investment on July 29, 2022, aims to preserve the grey-shanked douc langurs, improve residents’ livelihoods and use appropriate resources through community-based tourism in Tam My Tay Commune.
